Hearts boss Robbie Neilson explains how Scott McGill caught his eye and assesses his appearance for club

Scott McGill played 64 minutes of the match against Cowdenbeath.

The 18-year-old, who is a graduate from the SFA performance centre at Broughton High School, played 64 minutes at Bayview as the Jambos won their second game in a row in Betfred Cup Group A.

McGill was promoted into the first team after Andy Irving was called into the Scotland Under-21 squad late on Friday evening and Neilson was pleased with his performance, explaining how the central midfielder had caught his eye over the past few months.

“He’s been pretty good, I’ve been pleased with him,” Neilson told the Evening News. “When we were off in the period when the senior team had to stop, I could only work with the younger ones and he did well. We brought him into the first-team group and he’s looked really comfortable. I like the way he tries to dictate the game. He’s got a good range of passing, good mobility and good physicality, as well as a good attitude. I was really pleased with him.

"When Andy got the call for the 21s, there was no hesitation to put him in because I think he’s been really good and he deserved his debut.

"I think it’s important we have these young players coming through. They bring energy to the group and they’re hungry to do well.”

McGill may get another chance to play for the senior Hearts team on Tuesday after French midfielder Loic Damour suffered a minor setback in training.

The former Cardiff City midfielder had been recovering from an ankle injury and had returned to training, only to pick up another knock to it in a session ahead of the trip to Methil. He is unlikely to feature against Raith Rovers in Hearts’ penultimate pool match at Tynecastle tomorrow night.

"Loic trained on Friday and he got another knock on his ankle,” added Neilson. “He’s been training the last five or six days and had been doing fine, and we want to gradually get him in the squad again.”